Election Committee Rejects Bids to Disqualify Right-Wing Parties

The Central Elections Committee overwhelmingly rejected petitions to disqualify the "Religious Zionism-Identity" list, led by Bezalel Smotrich and Moshe Feiglin, and the "Otzma Yehudit" party, headed by Itamar Ben-Gvir, allowing both to run in the upcoming 26th Knesset elections. The "Religious Zionism-Identity" list was approved with a vote of 21 against 3, while "Otzma Yehudit" was cleared by a vote of 19 against 10. These decisions followed the committee's disqualification of the Arab parties Ra'am and the Joint List, as well as MK Ofer Cassif and Balad chairman Sami Abu Shehadeh, the previous day.

The petition against Smotrich and Feiglin was filed by the "Zulat" institute and lacked broad political support. The "Otzma Yehudit" party faced petitions from the Democrats party and the Zulat institute. During the hearing for "Otzma Yehudit," the representative of the Attorney General stated there was no evidentiary basis to disqualify the list. The hearing reportedly devolved into sharp exchanges after former MK Yael German compared the party to Nazism, drawing angry responses from Ben-Gvir and MK Tally Gottlieb.

The committee's decisions to approve the right-wing lists stand in stark contrast to its disqualifications of the Arab parties and individuals the day before, highlighting a political balance within the committee that favored right-wing lists while blocking Arab ones. However, the election committee's decisions are subject to judicial review, and the final determination of the candidate lists for the 26th Knesset is expected to be made by the Supreme Court, as past election cycles have shown the court sometimes overturning the committee's political rulings.